Joystiqhttp://www.joystiq.com
Joystiqhttp://www.blogsmithmedia.com/http://www.joystiq.com/media/feedlogo.gifJoystiqhttp://www.joystiq.com
en-usCopyright 2015 AOL, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only.Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.joystiq.com/2012/12/04/hitman-facebook-promo-killed-must-have-had-small-tits/http://www.joystiq.com/2012/12/04/hitman-facebook-promo-killed-must-have-had-small-tits/http://www.joystiq.com/2012/12/04/hitman-facebook-promo-killed-must-have-had-small-tits/#commentsIf you logged online early enough today, you could have sent death threats to your friends on Facebook, courtesy of Square Enix and Agent 47 with the "Hire Hitman" app. Not only were these death threats, but they were full-on hits, with the targeted Facebook friend going through a process that flashed pictures from their profiles in front of their eyes before they were killed. To top it off, the hits were identified by awkwardly specific reasons such as "her ginger hair, her muffin top, her hairy legs," or "her small tits."

Yes, this was a real thing you could do this morning. Square Enix since removed the app, not long after launching it and just after Rock, Paper, Shotgun wrote about it. We can't imagine why, though Square sent over a statement that cleared it up nicely:

"Earlier today we launched an app based around Hitman: Absolution that allowed you to place virtual hits on your Facebook friends. Those hits would only be viewable by the recipient and could only be sent to people who were confirmed friends. We were wide of the mark with the app and following feedback from the community we decided the best thing to do was remove it completely and quickly. This we've now done. We're sorry for any offence caused by this."

If you want to experience the Hire Hitman app - too bad, because it's gone. Take This Lollipop, however, is still live on Facebook and uses the same premise, though it doesn't allow users to engage in name-calling, bigotry, death threats or misogyny.

Self-funded "for fun," according to creative director Jeff Chan, of Toronto-based viral marketing company We Can Pretend, this live-action trailer is meant as an example of how Activision's Call of Duty game franchise could be expanded to film. "We definitely wouldn't wanna just call ourselves fans," said Chan, who would not say whether the filmmakers had talked to Activision about their project yet.

"We gave a statement on Friday," an Activision representative said in response to the trailer going live. "No further comment."

The "Find Makarov" trailer, which Chan compared to the live-action ODST short in spirit, was scripted by We Can Pretend design director Patrick Lo, who also created the website. David Fradkin produced the film, and Nir Zahavi directed the extensive viral marketing campaign. Visual effects were handled by Junction VFX, also based out of Toronto.

Chan declined to elaborate on the company's long-term intention. Watch the so-called "Live Action Modern Warfare" trailer after the break.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>call-of-dutyfan-filmfilmfind-makarovfindmakarov.comjeff-chanmicrosoftmodern-warfaremoviepcplaystationps3viral-marketingwe-can-pretendxboxWed, 02 Mar 2011 10:00:00 ESThttp://www.joystiq.com/2010/12/03/deus-ex-human-revolution-viral-sarif-industries/http://www.joystiq.com/2010/12/03/deus-ex-human-revolution-viral-sarif-industries/http://www.joystiq.com/2010/12/03/deus-ex-human-revolution-viral-sarif-industries/#comments
What is an upcoming video game without a viral marketing website? Nothing, that's what. Enter the website for Sarif Industries, which appears to be nothing more than your average site for a cybernetic implant manufacturer (you know the type). After a few minutes of fooling around with the site, however, a hacking minigame begins, tasking users with avoiding security measures and retrieving data files.

The reward: Images and information about the cybernetic augmentations available in Deus Ex: Human Revolution. As marketing sites go, it's pretty nifty. If you're in the market for some new robotic limbs, check it out.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>deus-ex-human-revolutioneidos-montrealmicrosoftpcplaystationps3sarif-industriessquare-enixviral-marketingxboxFri, 03 Dec 2010 13:30:00 ESThttp://www.joystiq.com/2010/04/19/lost-planet-beta-codes-frozen-in-blocks-of-ice/http://www.joystiq.com/2010/04/19/lost-planet-beta-codes-frozen-in-blocks-of-ice/http://www.joystiq.com/2010/04/19/lost-planet-beta-codes-frozen-in-blocks-of-ice/#comments
Viral marketing is a strange beast. Example: Over the weekend, Capcomdelivered several blocks of ice to eight different US cities. The catch: Each block of ice contained Lost Planet 2 merchandise and a code to get into the online multiplayer beta. The event went down this Saturday, so we're guessing that all the blocks have been found or have melted by now. Thankfully, the internet, in its unrelenting vigilance, has chronicled the event for all time. After the break, witness a small child do his damnedest to release his prize from its icy prison.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>capcomlost-planetLost-Planet-2viral-marketingMon, 19 Apr 2010 18:11:00 ESThttp://www.joystiq.com/2010/04/19/new-zealand-police-respond-to-splinter-cell-stunt-involving-gun/http://www.joystiq.com/2010/04/19/new-zealand-police-respond-to-splinter-cell-stunt-involving-gun/http://www.joystiq.com/2010/04/19/new-zealand-police-respond-to-splinter-cell-stunt-involving-gun/#comments
A Splinter Cell: Conviction marketing stunt went a bit too far in Auckland, New Zealand. According to the New Zealand Herald, a man with bandages on his hands pointed a fake gun at the patrons of a bar, who responded by diving under tables and calling the police. The money quote comes from Senior Sergeant Ben Offner, who said, "We consider these types of stunts to be very ill-advised and have real concerns a similar one may one day end in tragedy." Er, "ill-advised" would be putting it lightly.

The company responsible for the stunt, The Monaco Corporation, claims it hired another marketing company to organize the promotion and didn't know a gun would be used. It apologized for the stunt, with a spokesperson stating it was "marketing gone wrong." So wrong, in fact, that the report refers to the game as "Splinter Cell: Evolution." The situation sounds a lot worse than it apparently was, as police only "cautioned" two men at the scene.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>bad-marketingbusinessmarketingMicrosoftsplinter-cell-convictionubisoftviral-marketingXbox-360Mon, 19 Apr 2010 11:45:00 ESThttp://www.joystiq.com/2009/11/20/pre-order-mass-we-pray-for-free-dantes-inferno-trailer/http://www.joystiq.com/2009/11/20/pre-order-mass-we-pray-for-free-dantes-inferno-trailer/http://www.joystiq.com/2009/11/20/pre-order-mass-we-pray-for-free-dantes-inferno-trailer/#commentsWe had an icky feeling when we first watched the Mass: We Pray teaser. Not because of the toll excessive devotional gameplay might take on our souls, but because we were pretty sure we were being virally marketed to in some way or another. It turns out, our unease (also felt by a few others, including The Escapist) was spot on, as We Pray has been revealed as the latest move in the Dante's Inferno marketing campaign's fight against good taste.

Clicking to pre-order the game on the website or to get a better look at the controllers, now triggers a message about heresy, along with a trailer for Dante's Inferno and a link to the Facebook app, "Go to Hell." Sorry if you were looking forward to We Pray!

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>dantes-infernoeaElectronic-Artsmass-we-prayMicrosoftpray-works-interactiveviral-marketingvisceral-gamesXbox-360Fri, 20 Nov 2009 10:40:00 ESThttp://www.joystiq.com/2009/11/06/rumor-kane-and-lynch-2-teaser-has-duo-dodging-dogs/http://www.joystiq.com/2009/11/06/rumor-kane-and-lynch-2-teaser-has-duo-dodging-dogs/http://www.joystiq.com/2009/11/06/rumor-kane-and-lynch-2-teaser-has-duo-dodging-dogs/#commentsMTV Germany has posted a video that could be construed as a viral teaser for Kane & Lynch 2. The clip is mock "surveillance video" of two naked men desperately barging into a Chinese restaurant. The streakers are apparently on the run -- there's some gun fire aimed in their direction -- until one (possibly Lynch by the looks of his hairstyle) trips and falls over a table, only to be attacked a few seconds later by a dog. The other gentleman, perhaps Kane, successfully beats the dog off of his partner with what appears to be a tray, and then the two presumably escape.

Could this be be a viral ad for Kane and Lynch in "Dog Days?" Your call.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>eidoskane-and-lynchkane-and-lynch-2kane-and-lynch-2-dog-daysvideoviral-marketingFri, 06 Nov 2009 10:35:00 ESThttp://www.joystiq.com/2009/07/27/comic-con-2009-bioshock-2-gets-real/http://www.joystiq.com/2009/07/27/comic-con-2009-bioshock-2-gets-real/http://www.joystiq.com/2009/07/27/comic-con-2009-bioshock-2-gets-real/#comments
Ever been to the mysterious BioShock 2 website, www.somethinginthesea.com? We first heard about it in March, and it is randomly updated from time to time with new bits of information from an obsessed searcher looking for clues about mysterious lights in the sea, and the disappearance of young girls from villages and cities near the ocean.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>2k-gamesBioshockBioshock-2MicrosoftSDCC-2009viralviral-marketingXbox-360Mon, 27 Jul 2009 18:00:00 ESThttp://www.joystiq.com/2009/03/05/theres-something-in-the-sea-and-its-bioshock-2-info/http://www.joystiq.com/2009/03/05/theres-something-in-the-sea-and-its-bioshock-2-info/http://www.joystiq.com/2009/03/05/theres-something-in-the-sea-and-its-bioshock-2-info/#commentsDetails are (probably intentionally) slim on this mysterious site, www.somethinginthesea.com, discovered by a Joystiq tipster. At the moment, it's nothing but a picture of a map, with a marking labeled 2/20/67, and a few weathered documents in front of it. But it's totally marketing for BioShock 2: Sea of Dreams.

One of the papers is the image seen above, which is a drawing of the same Big Daddy doll seen in the BioShock 2 trailer. One of the letters describes the doll a bit: "The head resembles a helmet, the feet could be heavy boots." The letter speculates that the doll "resembles particulars" of an "attacker" that carried out a recent kidnapping.

We're presenting the trailer again after the break, in the hope that one of you BioShockologists will see some new connections between the material on the site and the trailer. Let us know in the comments!

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>2k-marinbioshockbioshock-2bioshock-2-sea-of-dreamsrockstarsomething-in-the-seatake-twotake2viral-marketingThu, 05 Mar 2009 15:28:00 ESThttp://www.joystiq.com/2009/02/20/mysterious-messages-found-in-home-part-of-viral-campaign/http://www.joystiq.com/2009/02/20/mysterious-messages-found-in-home-part-of-viral-campaign/http://www.joystiq.com/2009/02/20/mysterious-messages-found-in-home-part-of-viral-campaign/#comments
Have you stopped by PlayStation Home lately? There's something mysterious going on. Check the "News" section on your in-Home PDA and you'll see this rather strange message. From the way this is written, it's clear that the text is very intentionally crafted. (This is far from a real error message.)

The text reminds us a lot of Dead Space and the fall of the USS Ishimura, but it's unlikely Home will be starting a new campaign related to the 2008 game. For now, we're thinking this is the start of a new viral campaign, most likely promoting a new game or Home space.

We just received a totally mysterious comment on our first post about the "Who is the Commander" viral marketing campaign, which is purportedly linked to some upcoming Wii game. The comment, from "CommanderVideo," read:

"00DATACOMPILED1111DATAUPLOADCOMPLETE1--WWW1COMMANDERVIDEO1C"

Yay! We've been made complicit in one of those ARG things! Or, at least, some PR person noticed we exist. The new data on commandervideo.com seems to consist only of the above image, "hidden" behind a tiny pink hyperlink. The image doesn't really give us much information that we can use, nor does its filename, J_BN_POMZ_B_NBO.jpg (which, as commenter Aaron points out, is "I AM ONLY A MAN" with all the letters shifted). The image does kind of look like it could relate to an abstract shooting game, we suppose, with a weird cubey ship flying over a weird cubey landscape.

We feel a bit like chumps for furthering this marketing campaign, but if there is a Wii game behind all this nonsense, we want to know about it, and the best way for that to happen is to review, and share, all the material we're given!

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>the-commanderviral-marketingTue, 30 Dec 2008 15:35:00 ESThttp://www.joystiq.com/2008/12/22/who-and-what-is-the-commander/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/12/22/who-and-what-is-the-commander/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/12/22/who-and-what-is-the-commander/#commentsOh, look, it's one of those viral-marketing videos designed to build so much hype about an unknown project that thousands of people will be thrilled by whatever it turns out to be! We'll go ahead and contribute to the hype, because why not. Maybe one of you will figure something out!

IGN claims this video relates to a Wii-exclusive game coming in 2009, but really, it could be anything. It was posted on Vimeo by a user named CommanderVideo with no history at all, and it's also available on a website, commandervideo.com, whose WHOIS information is masked.

As for the video itself, we see a grid sequence made to look sort of like an arcade game startup screen, and what looks like several seconds of an abstract top-down shooter. And a bunch of nonsense. But hey, we like abstract shooters!

We know a lot of you like nothing more than digging through an intentionally inscrutable website for marketing material, so consider this a public service: Capcom has launched an new viral site for Resident Evil 5 for you to explore at your leisure.

Word of the site was passed around through creepy emails that featured only the web address and the message "It came from Kijuju." about 100 times. Happy hunting, and let us know what you find. Oh, and after the jump, you'll find a really well-produced, live-action clip that's somehow tied to the campaign.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>capcomPS3resident-evilresident-evil-5viral-marketingXbox-360Tue, 09 Dec 2008 12:20:00 ESThttp://www.joystiq.com/2008/03/28/ghost-recon-site-countdowns-to-april-2/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/03/28/ghost-recon-site-countdowns-to-april-2/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/03/28/ghost-recon-site-countdowns-to-april-2/#commentsUpdate: At the time of this story the Rainbow Six website wasn't acting properly, however it has been reported that it too is pointing to the Ghost Recon website via a similar overlay. This story has been updated to include the Rainbow Six site.

In the early hours of the day this morning one of our readers helped us spot a strange overlay on the official Ghost Recon website. Visitors of the site were treated to a smoking dossier (which might be a black box after all) but nothing could be done other than close off the overlay and scratch your head.

Today, both the End War, Splinter Cell and Rainbow Six sites have received similar flash-based marketing treatments. Each site includes an overlay of smoking items that appear to be from a wreckage which, when clicked, redirects visitors to the official Ghost Recon website -- home of the original mystery.

While it could all end there, today the Ghost Recon site updated with new information and a mysterious countdown timer.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>argend-warghost-recongrawgraw3splinter-cellubisoftviral-marketingFri, 28 Mar 2008 18:00:00 ESThttp://www.joystiq.com/2008/01/31/gtaiv-viral-marketing-wanted-posters/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/01/31/gtaiv-viral-marketing-wanted-posters/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/01/31/gtaiv-viral-marketing-wanted-posters/#commentsNow that Grand Theft Auto IV has an official release date, it's time to let the viral marketing begin. Enter this scarily realistic wanted poster uploaded by Flickr user freshyill. Honestly, is that the kind of face you'd want to see at your car window late at night? The answer to that question is an emphatic no. Actually, we're a little curious to see if these posters raise any stink, because they could be mistaken as real posters by those who aren't in the know. Let's just hope the folks behind the viral marketing don't take it too far and actually rob a bank.